With Eighth Avenue now being a virtual revolving door of businesses, I'm not even sure where to update this information -- The Death of Chelsea's 8th Avenue HERE or The Heyday of Chelsea's 8th Avenue HERE -- but I'll start here:
Just a day after my friend Greg and I happened to have dinner and get shitfaced on margaritas last week, Mary Ann's -- the venerable Mexican restaurant I had recently singled out as having stood the test of time in Chelsea's ever-changing demographic -- up and closed, announcing they were relocating east (I believe 2nd Avenue and 20th Street). Sure, the food was mediocre. But this is still a huge loss for the neighborhood, further underscoring the end of an era.
Meanwhile, M Thai -- which is where The Break and later View Bar used to be -- suddenly closed.
I was somewhat taken aback given that Thai places generally do well wherever they are, but then noticed it moved a block south into the old home of Cuba Libre/Cuba Cafe that has been a revolving door of mostly Asian restaurants in recent years. Will be curious to see if it can break the curse.
And just as Koffeecake Cafe closed on 8th and 17th, across the street -- in the former home of Camouflage -- Caffe Bene's latest location opened. Haven't been yet, but I suppose there are worse things that could be there. And it fills the void of the old Paradise Cafe that was two doors down.
2 comments:
Thank you Kenneth for chronicling the changes in the neighborhood. As a longtime resident of Chelsea I too lament the demise of businesses which have lent charm and character to 8th ave, only to give way to banks and national retail chains. Do we really need 3 Starbucks between 14th St and 23rd St?
Matt
Not to mention the adult bookstores are popping up like dunken doughnuts
Post a Comment